Verifiable Credentials

Verifiable Credentials
Standardized machine-verifiable claims

Verifiable credentials are structured digital credentials that allow a holder to present claims made by an issuer to a verifier, using defined methods for checking integrity and authenticity. The W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0 became a Recommendation on 15 May 2025. The specification does not itself decide which credential issuers are trustworthy.

Roles and structure

The main conceptual roles are issuer, holder and verifier. A credential can assert attributes about an entity under an application-defined trust model. How a proof is secured and checked depends on the selected securing mechanism.

Trust decisions

Cryptographic verification establishes properties of a digital credential but does not prove that every claim is true. A verifier must decide whether the issuer and the specific claims are appropriate for the use case.

Potential machine uses

A machine ecosystem could use verifiable credentials to communicate authorizations, qualifications or device attributes. Such uses require profiles, policies, lifecycle management and implementation safeguards; the generic W3C model is not a purpose-built robot-certification regime.

Further reading

• Recommendation for Key Management, Part 1 — NIST

See also

• Digital Identity
• Public Key Infrastructure
• Robot Authentication
• Identity Verification
• Machine Identity
• Physical AI